Following the last week’s success, they are at it again, protesting in Omiya City against the restart of Ooi Nuke Plant and against Mr. Edano himself, calling out loud, “EdaNO, YameRO! (Edano, resign!)” with accent on “NO” and “RO”.

The crowd looks less than last week, but just as noisy and vigorous.

Come to think about it, Japan has come a long way. Now ordinary citizens are calling the sitting minister of one of the most powerful ministries in the Japanese government without “Mr.”.

I like these local events. There are no fences, there are no orange cones. People are shouting about all kinds of issues.

Film crew gets tested after “bizarre” incident in high radiation area — “I’ve never been this nervous in my life” (VIDEO)

In Containment: The people of Minamisoma, 15 months after the meltdown – Part 5/5
Camera: Ian Thomas Ash/ Koji Fujita
Published by DocumentingIan
Published: July 21, 2012

Minamisoma resident Hiroshi: “I’ve never been this nervous in my life.”

Part 5 STORY: After returning from the exclusion zone, the crew goes to a testing site to be measured for radiation exposure. Later, Ian visits a nursery school located just outside of the 30km radiation zone, where the head teacher opens up about her fears for the children’s future. Finally, the children go out to play, but their conversation quickly turns shockingly real.

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Uh, how about ending Japan’s reliance on N.E. NOW????? This has been one of the coolest summers I’ve experienced here in MANY years. Haven’t had the A/C running but two days this year. Where is the HEAT the gov’t said would cause the country to have rolling blackouts?

Close them all – permanently – NOW!

And get the children out of Fukushima – NOW.

And STOP spreading radiation all over Japan by burning disaster debris – NOW. It’s not the radiation levels in the air 1m above ground. It’s the internal radiation people (and children, did I mention children???!!) will get through the water, soil, rivers, food, fish………………………..

Lawmakers in Japan outline denuclearization bill

Former Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan and other governing party lawmakers have announced an outline of a bill that would end Japan’s reliance on nuclear energy by 2025.

The draft outline says nuclear power generation could lead to infinite damages in the event of an accident. It adds that lack of final disposal measures will end up leaving future generations piles of radioactive waste.

It calls for establishing alternative power sources and reducing the number of operating nuclear power plants to zero.

The draft also calls for promotion of solar, wind, and other sources of renewable energy to cut carbon dioxide emissions.

The outline also mandates the central government to create jobs in communities that host nuclear plants.

The secretary general of the governing Democratic Party, Azuma Koshiishi, has been asking Kan to compile a plan on future energy sources.

The former prime minister said he intends to seek support within his party and that he wants to submit the bill with support from the opposition.

Jul. 22, 2012 – Updated 00:58 UTC (09:58 JST)

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Sunday, July 22, 2012

Job boss wanted dosimeters encased in lead

Tepco crisis workers faced exposure scam

Kyodo, AFP-Jiji

An executive at a subcontractor for Tokyo Electric Power Co. forced nine workers dealing with the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant to encase their dosimeters in lead, the company confirmed Saturday.

The executive is believed to have tried to underreport radiation exposure, prompting the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry to launch an investigation on suspicion of violating the industrial safety and health law, officials said.

The unnamed executive, who is in his 50s and works for Build-Up, a construction firm based in Fukushima Prefecture, told the plant workers Dec. 1 to attach the lead plates to pocket dosimeters provided by Tepco to monitor their radiation exposure, the sources said.

He said during questioning that he issued the instruction to them only once and that they worked at the site around three hours that day, according to the company.

The workers were hired for about four months through last March to wrap pipes at a water treatment facility with heat insulators.

Tepco affiliate Tokyo Energy & Systems Inc., which contracted with Build-Up, said it was told the workers did not use the lead plates, but it is looking into the matter to see if the executive was acting on his own initiative.

From EX-SKF:

Radioactive Disaster Debris: Kitakyushu City Educates Kids How Safe It Is to Burn the Debris

I haven’t written about the disaster debris disposal for a long time, as it has dwindled into a non-issue in most part of Japan now that the amount of the debris in Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures has turned out to be much, much less than what was predicted. EXCEPT in the cities whose mayors are more than ever determined to bring and burn the debris NO MATTER WHAT.

One such city is Tokyo under the 79-year-old governor Shintaro Ishihara. Another is Osaka City under the boy-wonder mayor Toru Hashimoto who would say and do anything to stay in the news.

Then there is Kitakyushu City, whose mayor Kenji Kitahashi has been on a relentless campaign to shove the debris on the residents. His latest antics: Educate elementary school children and junior high school pupils so that they will tell their parents how safe and wonderful it is to bring the disaster debris all the way to their city in Kyushu Island and burn it.

Some Kitakyushu City’s parents were outraged when they found out about this education pamphlets.

[snip]

According to the togetter about Kitakyushu City’s pamphlets, school principals were instructed by the mayor and the city’s Board of Education to speak positively about accepting and burning the disaster debris in Kitakyushu City at the end-of-semester ceremony before the summer break (most likely it was on July 20). Here’s one of the tweets in the togetter:

The other day, I heard that school principals were instructed by Mayor Kitahashi to repeatedly tell pupils from 4th graders on at the end-of-semester ceremony that “to accept the disaster debris is to do a good thing“. Our child is in junior high school, so I wondered if they do that in junior high school also. Sure enough, [my daughter] said the principal talked about that in the ceremony today [July 20].

Mayor Kitahashi has his own website where he posts his reasoning for accepting the debris in English. If you care to read it, it is here.

Why doesn’t the mayor come outright and say “I want the disaster debris for the money it brings to the city, and the business concessions it will bring to the city”?

By the way, asbestos and mercury have been detected in municipal incineration plantｓ in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo that have been mixing the disaster debris from Onagawa City, Miyagi with the household garbage and burning the mixture. Hexavalent chromium and arsenic have also been detected in the disaster debris in the amount that exceeds the limit set by the regulations.

No matter. All is safe, and all to help “recovery” that is non-existent.

Read entire article showing pamphlet for 4th – 6th graders, as well as further discussion at:

The mayor of the city believes the tree is the symbol of hope for the residents for the future, and it has to be standing, dead or alive. 150 million yen or not.

Some residents wholeheartedly agree with the mayor, while others have doubts, particularly about the money supposedly needed to preserve the tree in the standing position. I am rather surprised that the tree gets “embalmed”, instead of burned in a religious ceremony and sent to the “heaven” (wherever the pine tree heaven may be) – a traditional Japanese way.

NHK Morioka (Iwate) had the article for about several hours yesterday, now gone. This is part of the article that I copied while it was still at the local NHK website (7/21/2012):

津波に耐えて残った陸前高田市の「奇跡の一本松」の保存方法が決まりました。

The method of preservation has been decided for the “Miracle Lone Pine” in Rikuzen Takata City that survived the tsunami of March 11, 2011.

The tree will be cut down at the base, and the trunk will be cut into 5 parts. After they are treated with preservatives they will be pierced through with a metal rod. The tree thus preserved will stand in the original location. Rikuzen Takata Mayor Futoshi Toba disclosed the plan in the press conference on July 20.

According to the plan, the tree will be cut down at the base, and the trunk will be cut into 5 parts. After they are treated with preservatives they will be pierced through with a metal rod, and the base will be secured with bolts so that the tree can stand just like when the tree was alive.

The tree is scheduled to be cut down in the second half of August. [After being cut] the tree will be brought to Nagoya City and Kyoto City where the facilities to treat the wood are located. The core will be removed and the tree will be treated with preservatives. It is hoped that the tree will be standing by the end of February next year.

Rikuzen Takata City is asking for donations to cover the cost of preservation, about 150 million yen [US$1.9 million], but as of two days ago the amount collected was 3.5 million yen. The city will keep calling for support.

Mayor Toba says, “Because the tree, having survived the tsunami and standing, is giving hope to the residents, we have chosen this preservation method. The Lone Pine is our emotional support and our hope for future rebuilding of the city. We would like people all over the country to help us preserve the tree.”

Mayor Toba, I was told by one of my twitter followers, lost his wife to the tsunami.

I would still say “Let it go, let the tree die a peaceful death” and find hope elsewhere.

On the other hand, it may be a clear sign that the “recovery”, much publicized by the national government, doesn’t exist, if the residents of one of the areas hardest-hit by the March 11 tsunami have to rely on a dead tree for hope and support.